Editorials

New to Streaming: June 18th, 2015 – Orange is the New Black (Season 3), High Fidelity, The Cobbler and More

We round up the best of what’s new to streaming this week

Welcome to New to Streaming, the weekly column where we round up the best of what’s just started streaming on websites like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Turner Classic Movies, and many more. Let’s see what’s new on June 18th, 2015, shall we? First up…

I’d argue that, out of all their original programming, Orange is the New Black is Netflix’s biggest success. I’m not just talking in terms of audience (though it’s extremely popular) or quality (though it’s probably their best, most consistent show), but more so in that it’s a show so much more different than anything else that would air on network television, with both its racial diversity and female POV. While other Netflix shows have played with the form, like how the binge watch works, Orange is the New Black is structurally standard, but the stories it’s telling are so new that it all feels completely fresh. Just starting season 3, it’s clear they still haven’t run out of new aspects to explore.

John Cusack is one of those older actors who has fallen into a pit of bad direct to DVD action movies in his later years, but you can see him at least trying in the excellent Love & Mercy, in theaters now. Alternatively though you could watch a film from when he was in his prime, playing exactly the right kind of role, in High Fidelity. I’m not sure anyone really wanted Cusack to ever play mean or tough, because he’s just so charming and likeable in romantic comedies like this and Say Anything…. We’ll probably never get that Cusack back, but at least he lives on on Netflix.

This isn’t exactly a recommendation, the best way to watch this disaster of a movie is to watch this trailer to get a sense of the plot and all the creepy/racist/sexist stuff in it, and then skip ahead to the completely batshit crazy ending. Seriously, we all joke about Adam Sandler’s recent movies looking like fake movies from Funny People, but The Cobbler is even more ridiculous than those fake movies.